UPDATED: One toddler dead, another hospitalized after Pittsfield pool accident

Lorain County Sheriff's deputies stand on the pool deck as they investigate the scene of an accident Wednesday.

BRUCE BISHOP / CHRONICLE

A University Hospitals helicopter takes off from Allen Hospital in Oberlin en route to Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital with one of the victims from a pool accident on West Road in Pittsfield township.

PITTSFIELD TWP. — One toddler is dead and another was listed in critical condition after both were found in a swimming pool outside of a home day care.

Capt. Rick Thomas of the Lorain County Sheriff’s Office said a girl, 22 months, was pronounced dead at Mercy Allen Hospital in Oberlin. The boy, 23 months, was flown to University Hospitals Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland.

Emergency responders were called in the 15000 block of West Road shortly before 10:30 a.m. Wednesday when the boy and girl were found in the pool. Thomas did not say who made the 911 call or how long the toddlers were in the pool. He also declined to say how many other children were at the home day care and how many care providers were there at the time.

“That’s all part of the investigation,” Thomas said. “We always look to see any culpability of a criminal nature but also try to determine if it was accidental.”

Thomas said the toddlers were cousins from the Wellington area.

Thomas did not know how long the day care center has been in operation, but he said the state Department of Jobs and Family Services was notified.

“It’s ugly. There’s just no way around that,” Thomas said.

Toys floated in the above-ground pool that was accessible from a standalone porch while deputies took samples of the water to be tested. The pool was surrounding by a white fence and the porch connected to it had a gated entrance.

Thomas said it wasn’t known if the gate was properly secured.

According to the Lorain County auditor’s website, the home is owned by Marietta and Edgar Rowe, but it is not known if they were the ones running the day care.